Not just at PTC (above)
but, also at Lynn & Mike's!!
08 April 2011
07 April 2011
Not so free roaming anymore.....
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| Black Betty For more Comments from (within) the Coop check out: |
...and, given her expression - we are not amused! 1
The Hen Pen
More work on the Henclosure! Today was spent digging out a trench for the new beech hedge which follows the curve of the mesh. The beech trees were VERY kindly donated by Chris and dug up from his wood. Hopefully it will soften and eventually hide most of the weldmesh panels. Yes! I KNOW it's a tad late in the season to be planting a hedge. It's just that none of this work was anticipated prior to Monsieur Le Reynard's murderous visit! I do need to paint the fence post finials without dripping paint on the new hedging plants.
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| The Henclosure |
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| David's Gate |
David Lane (of J.W. Lanes Ltd - Agricultural Engineers of Stanford bridge) made a really lovely gate in a Victorian style and delivered it in person just in time to hang it this morning. Lanes can always be relied upon for all things sensible and useful and -at all times. Chris now wants to lay some pretty bricks from the gate and around the House for Hens.
Other jobs involved lowering the hedge in front of the Banana Bench allowing views across to Woodbury and Abberley Clock Tower whilst seated. It takes MUCH courage to cut a great chuck out of a mature hedge and this was very radical move (gulp)! It just needs to green over now!
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| The Banana Bench |
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| Original hedge height seen on right |
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| Original hedge height seen on left |
Hopefully, it will even thicken out. From a seated position, half the vistas would have been obscured and we would have been left with a close-up view of a less than perfect and very old hedge.
It would be nice to find some pretty Victorian railings of a suitable height to disguise/obscure the rabbit netting.
28 March 2011
Wall repairs
While fox defences were being built, the other Chris (Genever) and builder extraordinaire was also hard at work demolishing and rebuilding an unsafe retaining wall with no help from anyone. And! Talking of curves - how well did he do?? It looks so much nicer than it did before and the addition of the clay drain pipe adds to its character as well as being so practical. All ready for the Aubretia and pinks to trail over!
As if that wasn't clever enough, he also straightened the lamp post which did have quite a list. This meant digging out and relaying all the granite sets around its base. Another beautifully neat job.
Foxproof Fortifications for Fowls!
This is the last photo of Sandy before she was killed by a fox. What a pity Zach wasn't on guard duty when Monsieur Le Reyard came killling!
Since then, we have spent the better part of 5 days building foxproof fortifications for fowls! Trying to make fencing from 8' x 6' panels of weldmesh not look too much like a prison camp has been a bit of a challenge to say the least. However, we have managed to get some pretty elegant looking curves (if I do say so myself!) and the plan is to plant a wild beech hedge in front. In the meantime the 'house for hens' has been repainted inside and out and moved. It now nestles amongst the bamboos and looks the nicer for its move. Lanes are making a (replica Victorian) entrance gate and we await electrification and the arrival of pretty fence post finials. I'm desperate to soften the look as much as is humanly possible and, when the beech hedge grows, not much of the mesh will be visible.
In the meantime, Al is making a new hatchway in the adjoining Hennery so the girls can come and go as they please. It goes without saying that Chris has headed all major construction and brilliantly so! We still need to do a bit of replanting and move a couple of grasses and then lay some slabs in what has become known as the Hen Pen (that being shorter then Henclosure!) Of course - now we have room for more hens..............
23 March 2011
Fox Strike
Poor Sandy was attacked by a fox and died from her injuries. On hearing the commotion we immediately rushed out. It dropped her and ran. The fox was actually seen and - in the middle of the day! Rather than die in vain, we ate her ourselves. Work on fortifications begin tomorrow but, in future, free roaming chickens can't be quite so free. What a shame! She was the friendliest of the four and everybody's favourite. Now we're down to 3, egg production is much reduced.
14 March 2011
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